August 27, 2010

In ancient China, two thousand years ago, a general wanted to count his troops. He first had them line up in ranks of eleven, and there were ten troops left over in the last rank. Then he had his troops line up in ranks of twelve, and there were four left over in the last rank. Finally he had them line up in ranks of thirteen, and there were twelve troops remaining in the last rank.

Your task is to determine how many troops the general had under his command. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.